Thornbark Forest and Elkhold
The Beginning One day I was walking around in Thornbark Forest, just checking on the forest I lived in. I was walking in a valley clearing, when this guy slid down the side of the valley, startling me quite a bit. I asked him if he was ok, and he responded with one of the weirdest sentences I have ever heard. He asked me "Excuse me, but could you tell me where the nearest medical professional is? I believe I've taken one of Eros' arrows in my posterior." I was slightly confused, but I understood the first part. I closed my eyes and searched for the quickest route through the trees and into Elkhold. I ended up leading him through the trees and into Elkhold. When we came through the trees I hesitated, for I did not trust most other races. A few people stopped to view the strange sight of a wood elf leading a guy through Elkhold. I hurriedly walked to the house of the doctor, whom I knew fairly well, because I helped him collect medicinal berries and such more than once. I pointed to the house and said "There is the doctor's house, is that what you needed?" He nodded slowly, and I took that for a yes. I didn't know much about communicating with humans, but I knew a few things. The Elves have their own secret language, which is spoken very fast. I ended up going farther down the valley, to where my small hollowed out tree of a house was. A few days later when I was playing one of the wooden flutes my father had made, the guy was across the valley again. I stopped, looking at him. I wondered why he had come back. I walked back to my house, pretending to not notice him. I saw him slide down the valley again, and eventually I slid down farther down the valley. Eventually I saw him sneaking around, and I played mostly stupid. "Who goes there?" I shouted in cruddy English. He stepped from behind the rock like he was hiding in, and said back to me, "I am Drachir Notaehw, and I live in Elkhold." "I am Meishka Maholson, I live here in Thornbark Forest" I replied in my not-so-nice English. "What is thou's job here?" "I have no job here, I am the man who slid down yesterday, and I came back" "Why did you come back?" I had realized that he was very clever and talented, and he wasn't entirely human. I also suspected he was a beginner in magicka, just like me. I decided that if he wanted to come back, he had to earn the right to come back. I drew the only knife I had at the moment, my elvish blade. He seemed alarmed at a rate, but I didn't stop. "How about I see how good you are?" I lunged at him, and he darted to the side as quick as an elf like me. We fought for a while, occasionally clashing and the occasional crackle of magicka being worked. In the end, we both sat upon the ground, thoughly tired. In the end, I had gotten a lucky upper hand, but it was a tie. We were both equally strong and quick minded. I decided from that moment on, that I had to know more about him. Eros' Arrows Strike More Than Once Drachir came by daily, us talking or wandering the forest. Eventually I got the nerve to ask him to teach me more English. I wasn't going to blend in well if I couldn't speak the common language here. Over the span of a few weeks he had taught me a lot. He taught me how to read, write, and speak most English. We were walking in the forest one day, when I said, "Drachir, do you say..... Like anybody in Elkhold?" "Not really, I'm usually away from all the other women and men. I'm not accepted because I'm not fully human. So nobody really approaches me." "Oh." We continued to walk though the forest in silence, me thinking hard. I tried hard to think if he would really tell me if he liked somebody, or if we were to new of friends to do that. Of course, he always could just not like me because I'm a different race. Then again, he might think that I am thinking that he is weird because he isn't pure blooded. But that doesn't really matter because many have that... well, a few. It still didn't make a difference. I like him. There, I said it. He is funny, nice, and helpful. I really don't see anything wrong. I was just about to say something when we heard a horrible screeching crash. I stopped and reached out my mind and found a ship with dozens of people dying. I motioned toward it and ran. I hoped Drachir followed me, because I didn't stop. Once I reached the ship, I stopped in my tracks. There in front of me was the twisted, flaming wreck of a space ship. I searched with my mind and only found one survivor. I dragged whoever it was out of the ship. Little did I know that the survivor was Teran Dactylis. The Party After a few weeks of healing and being taught by me and Drachir, Teran was up and doing his own thing again, living with me in my over sized tree of a house. Drachir and me had been talking and taking more and more walks in the forest, which was just excellent with me. Ryll had been hosting more parties, her being a favorite of the locals. She earned her living by playing in inns, taverns and the occasional rich merchant. One of her parties, the best party of my life, me, Drachir and Teran all decided to go together. It started as a normal party, groups of people talking about different things, the few people (like me, Teran, and Drachir) who were just wandering around, not finding many of the conversations interesting. Or the people not being so acceptive of who we were. Me, Teran and Drachir eventually found each other and just started talking about various importances in our lives. Eventually Ryll came and took me away to a group of hers, where I awkwardly stayed, not wanting to be rude and leave. After a little while, I found a nice time to slip away and go back to Drachir. I stopped and looked for them finding them deeply in disscusion about something very, very important it looked like. I mingled and watched for a while, noticing a few different expressions. I eventually got bored of watching and decided to go over there. When I came, I acted like I knew nothing of the previous disscusion between them. Teran looked from me, to Drachir. Me, Drachir. Back and forth until my smile faded and I knew something was gonna happen. I looked into Drachirs eyes and realized what exactly they had been talking about. I nodded curtly and turned on my heel, thinking that he was talking about whoever he really liked. All of that walking in the forest, all of that talking to each other like we had known each other for years. All for nothing. I had no chance with him, he already had somebody there for him. But I was wrong. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around, my face sad. But what I wasn't expecting, was to find Drachir there. We stood there for a minute or so, his hand on my shoulder, me trying to figure out what he was really thinking, when suddenly we both just leaned in and kissed. It was long, and I knew he hadn't found anybody. I had misinterpreted his emotion. He wasnt talking to Teran about somebody else, they were talking about me. And that moment I knew I had found the love of my life. My house becomes quite crowded After that one party, Drachir had moved in to live with me, Teran, and my apprentice Maddie. Teran had gotten himself a pet sonic dragon, who was cute, but really needed to learn how to not sonic boom every little twitch in the night. Life was just about as good as it could get. Drachir here, Teran having a pet to keep him from getting killed, me teaching Maddie. Everything was just perfect. The Prophecy We were camping out one night when I had a dream. In my dream, there was a huge phoenix. The phoenix was talking to me, and it said to me, "I know you.... But I do not know how I know you.... I came to warn you.... Warn you of something dangerous.... But I can't tell it all.... You must find the other elementals.... If you don't stop this person, this female dark elf.... The world could end." And then the Phoenix left. I had so many questions, so many things I needed to know. But I knew one thing. That I had to find the other 'elementals.' The Elementals (I still need to write this part) "So who is it that is trying to take over the world and kill us?" I asked once we had found the last elemental. They did this thing where one said part of a sentence, then another finished it, like they were all piecing it together. In the end we found out it was Arushka, and she had gathered an army of demons and otherworldly creatures. After that, we started for her fortress. The Silver Stained Ground We were walking through the forest towards Arushkas fortress when we were ambushed. All we heard was a battle cry and they were upon us. I was fighting three of them when I heard Drachir cry out, "No!" I turned, but a few seconds to late. The knife slipped between my shoulders and I gasped in pain. I fell on my knees, trying to heal myself. All of the ambushers were dead now, and Maddie and Drachir ran over as fast as they could. Maddie tried to heal me, but I had already lost to much blood. Drachir sat next to me, saying over and over, "Don't leave me here" The last thing I said to him was, "I'll never leave" And then my eyes closed, and my body went limp. Teran had to drag Drachir away from my body, and Drachir kept yelling that I wasn't actually dead. Maddie sat in her knees, staring at the ground stained with silver blood. Her face was blank, and she didn't say anything for a few days. Ryll was the one who had enough courage to pick me up and take me back to our last camp. When we went back to camp, Ryll had laid me down for a second to get something, but when she came back, my body wasn't there. In its place was a giant Oak tree. The Panther